ASHIM KUMAR RAY Vs. STATE OF WEST BENGAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By an order dated November 22, 1971 under Sec. 3 (1) and (2) of the Maintenance of Internal Security Act, 1971 the District Magistrate of Nadia ordered the detention of the petitioner with a view to preventing him from acting in a manner prejudicial to the maintenance of public order. Pursuant to the said order, the petitioner was arrested on December 1, 1971 and detained in jail. The detaining authorities thereafter took all the steps and passed all orders under and as prescribed by the Act. No dispute has been raised by the petitioner in respect of any one of them.

(2.) The grounds of detention furnished to the petitioner at the time of his arrest stated as follows:

(3.) Two contentions challenging the validity of the petitioner's detention were raised before us. The first was that in respect of the two incidents set out in the aforesaid grounds and said to have occurred on the 30th and 31st of July, 1971 the petitioner was actually arrested on August 1, 1971 pursuant to a first information report lodged by the police. The police authorities, thus, having chosen to proceed against him under the ordinary law of the land, petitioner ought to have been tried by the court of law rather than be detained under an extraordinary act such as the Maintenance of Internal Security Act. The second was that the petitioner had nothing to do with either of the two incidents. But even assuming that he had participated in them, neither of the two grounds pertained to public order, but related only to the problem of law and order, and therefore, no detention order could have been validly passed against him in respect of either of them.